


Fortune Plango Vulnera

by ScotlandEvander



Series: Over the Rainbow [22]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eating, Friendship, Gen, Origin Story, Storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 04:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/879580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScotlandEvander/pseuds/ScotlandEvander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily Evans had seen many an odd thing since entering the magical world seven years ago. However, while publicly she insisted Atlanta Black wasn’t mentally unbalanced, there were times she felt the other girl was off her rocker. Now, though, before Lily sat a broken hearted girl picking at something called a Happy Meal. Lily had no idea what a Happy Meal was, but the House Elves of Hogwarts instantly knew what Atlanta wanted the moment she’d muttered her request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortune Plango Vulnera

**Disclaimer: If you know it, I do not own it.**

* * *

Lily Evans had seen many an odd thing since entering the magical world seven years ago. However, while publicly she insisted Atlanta Black wasn’t mentally unbalanced, there were times she felt the other girl was off her rocker. Now, though, before Lily sat a broken hearted girl picking at something called a Happy Meal. Lily had no idea what a Happy Meal was, but the House Elves of Hogwarts instantly knew what Atlanta wanted the moment she’d muttered her request. 

A Happy Meal consisted of what looked like a hamburger, chips, and a drink. One of the Elves had sat some sort of toy like object near Atlanta’s elbow. It looked to be carved out of wood.

“What is that?”

“Huh?”

“That, by your elbow.”

Atlanta stopped blankly staring at her hamburger and noticed the wooden object for the first time. She snorted emotionlessly and picked it up. 

“I think it’s a goblin. I explained the concept of Happy Meals to the House Elves last year. They are my weak spot. I used to collect the toys that came along with them. Granted, I wasn’t very good at getting whole collections as I hardly ventured into the Muggle world to eat at McDonalds,” Atlanta explained.

“I’ve heard of McDonalds,” Lily said slowly. “House Elves can do fast food, huh?”

Once again, Atlanta let out a snort. She went back to picking at the bun of the hamburger before picking it up and ripping it into tiny pieces. Lily watched, wondering where to begin the conversation she had brought the girl to the kitchens to have. 

Atlanta hadn’t shared the details of her breakup with Regulus Black with his older brother. Sirius assumed Regulus Black had become a Death Eater, hence why Atlanta broke up with him. Lily, though, felt it went deeper than that. While Lily did not approve of becoming a Death Eater, she had this odd feeling, Atlanta wasn’t surprised in the least by that revelation. 

“When did you know?”

“The day after his birthday,” was the answer. 

“And that is?”

“July ninetieth,” Atlanta replied. 

Lily’s jaw dropped open. She did not find herself shocked very often, but this information was rather shocking. 

“You’ve known for four months?!”

Atlanta nodding, shoving a bit of ripped up hamburger into her mouth. 

“How?”

“I sensed it,” she simply said.

“How?”

Atlanta glanced up and stared blankly at Lily. Lily did her best not to squirm under the green-grey gaze, but it was almost impossible. Atlanta’s gaze held such emotion it was hard to meet it. Heart break, acceptance, fear, anger and frustration ran through those jade colored eyes. Then, it all shifted and was gone. It was as if Atlanta had put a puzzle together and was resigned to what it meant. 

“I’m going to tell you a story about a boy named Tom,” Atlanta said, causing Lily to frown. 

What did a boy named Tom have to do with anything? Atlanta looked away, picking up a chip and biting off one end of it. 

“He was born in an orphanage. His mother died giving birth to him. The boy never knew any love or affection. He was not abused, but he scared his care givers. He never cried, he was always calm. As he grew up, he scared the other children to the point he was bullied due to the simple fact he was different. In retaliation, he learned to control his magic early in life to protect himself. He was not taught to be kind, taught to be forgiving or taught to love. None of these things came to him naturally. He grew into a cunning, ambitious, and very clever boy. One day, a strange man told this genius of a kid he was a wizard and he was going to school.”

Atlanta paused, shoving the rest of the chip into her mouth. 

“The boy entered the wizarding world alone, refusing the aid of the old man as he did things on his own. He needed no one. His fate was of his own making. He would not bemoan the hand fate had dealt him in the past, but embrace this new, magical world that was his for the taking.”

Lily frowned again. She was about to ask what Atlanta was trying to tell her, when Atlanta went on.

“The boy entered school and was sorted into Slytherin. Due to his past, he was scorned by his fellow housemates. He wasn’t a pureblood. He knew nothing of the wizarding world, so it was assumed he was a mudblood.”

Lily jerked a bit as Atlanta uttered the vile word so casually. Lily had never heard Atlanta use the world, nor would have expected someone so just and righteous to ever speak it. 

“No one from that background could wheel power out of poverty. To show his housemates, he went about being the top of his year; he bested anyone who tried to challenge him. He researched his past and discovered he was a descendant of a very pure pureblood family. Using this information he grew powerful, dark and even more ambitious. Fate does not strike down strong men, he would be the strongest with Slytherin’s own blood behind him.”

Lily frowned, not liking where this story was going. 

“The boy had besides his genius mind, his outside appearance. He looked like an angel. His face was arranged perfectly. He had pale skin, dark eyes and wavy, dark hair. He behaved charmingly to everyone. He seized the tools naturally given to them and abused them to gain what he wanted.

“One day, a girl in his year fell in love with his image and drew him in a sketchbook. Over and over. The girl was from a Dark family, so she used Darks spells and imbued the sketchbook with his hair, skin, magic and soul’s essence. The drawings moved, spoke and behaved as the boy, which was the closest the girl would ever get to her love.”

Lily snatched a chip off Atlanta’s plate, shoving it into her mouth to stop herself from asking questions. 

“The boy, age fourteen or fifteen, was trapped in the notebook without realizing it. One part of him went on, grew Darker, left that boy within those pages behind. He learned things, he became things and he began to see the world in a very warped sense. The wheel of fortune turned and he drowned in darkness.”

Atlanta’s eyes grew darker. She slowly looked up at Lily, an odd look etched on her face.

“Meanwhile, a part of his more innocent self was still alive, within the sketchbook. The self that wasn’t as jaded, wasn’t as driven to eradicate innocent people, wasn’t as demented as the one drowned in Darkness. He was not the self that had yet to taste the high of killing.”

Lily felt herself shiver. Goosebumps broke out over her skin and she suddenly realized who this boy grew up to become. 

“Are you talking about Voldemort?” Lily whispered. 

Instead of answering, Atlanta went on with her story. “The boy trapped in the sketchbook remained in the sketchbook for thirty odd years, till one day a girl who could see magic stumbled upon it. And stumble she did. A combination of a Dark, expired potion and the sketchbook’s own Dark magic, caused the boy to escape from the sketchbook. He did not know he’d been trapped in the sketchbook, but he had his magic and that was all that mattered to him.”

Atlanta paused, picking up another ripped up bit of hamburger. She chewed for what felt like eons.

“His magic is black, littered with bits of sparkling grey.”

Atlanta met Lily’s green eyes, which narrowed a bit. 

“Once you know how his magic feels, it is easy to find it. Especially if you are magically gifted to see magic,” Atlanta said quietly. “I know this boy, as I was the idiot who dumped the purple potion on the sketchbook. I got to know this boy, the lost boy who only wants to prove himself to the wider world. He’s not harmed anyone past bullying and doing things almost akin to what James Potter and Sirius Black do to their fellow school mates.”

Lily felt her skin crawl at being reminded of this fact. She liked to forget and pretend James had never been an arrogant toe-rag. 

“Well, other than killing a rabbit,” Atlanta added. “But, it was called for in the end.”

“What?”

“The boy is different than his older self. The wheels of fate and fortune dealt the two a different hand,” Atlanta pointed out. This point seemed important. “I did not realize who his older self was till I found an evil, dark object. The most foul magic…”

She shook her head, looking away from Lily. 

“I recognized the magic— the black with sparkling grey bits,” she said quietly. “After I got over my excitement at finding the object, I noticed the distinct magic it had been made with and my heart broke. My Tom— the not ghost like being I spend most of my time— Tom grew into Voldemort.”

Lily gasped. “You mean, you still have the…the boy who came out of the sketchbook?”

Atlanta nodded. “Yes. He’s tied to me and my magic. It is how he exists. If I leave, he ceases to exist if he doesn’t go into a containment unit we’ve made for him. He’s not here currently. He’s with the containment unit in the Ravenclaw tower. No one other than Regulus knows about Tom at the moment. Other than you. Oh, and my mentor for my Spellsmiths mastery. It’s partly due to Tom that I’m doing that.”

Lily was speechless. And kind of angry. She had been jealous when she heard that Atlanta Black, who had come out of nowhere, was accepted into the Spellsmith’s program. It was a hard program to get into. Lily had applied and been rejected. 

“I’ve told you all this because Tom is the reason I knew Regulus was a Death Eater. Usually the Dark Marks Voldemort places on the arms of his followers cannot be seen. I’m pretty sure Moldy Trousers knows Dumbledore can see traces of magic, and would know his, so he masks it, except when it is fresh. The first twenty-four hours, it’s visible as it adjusts to the person it’s on. I saw Regulus less than twenty-four hours after he had taken the Mark.”

Lily tried to wrap her head around everything. She wasn’t stupid, not at all, but even for Atlanta Black, everything she’d just said was mental. Lily crossed her arms and sat back in the wooden chair, narrowing her eyes. She gave Atlanta a look that told her to explain further. 

“I bet you are wondering why I’m telling you this,” Atlanta chuckled. “I know you and the majority of the school think I’m crazy, and I might just be, but someday something is going to happen to you and you’ll understand why you need to love something to death. You never know when something or someone you love will be taken from you or vise versa. You will never know how the fact you love someone will effect them long after you are gone.” 

Lily suddenly got an ominous feeling in her stomach. Her insides twisted and she felt a shiver eek down her spine. 

“Is Severus a Death Eater?” Lily asked quietly.

Atlanta jerked her head up, looking confused. “At the moment?”

“At any given time,” Lily corrected. 

“Yes.”

Lily turned away. She wasn’t sure why she asked. She should have guessed, with the company Severus…no, he was Snape now to her. The company Snape kept she should have known he’d wind up a Death Eater. 

“He…might not remain one,” Atlanta quietly admitted. 

Lily turned her attention back to the strange girl sitting across from her. Atlanta looked confused. 

“Reggie doesn’t remain one,” Atlanta quietly announces. 

“Then why did you leave him?”

“I’m putting him in danger,” Atlanta admitted quietly. “Regulus has a mission while he’s here at school and that mission is me. To convert me and hand me over to Moldy Trousers.”

Lily sucked in a deep breath and let it out steadily through her nose. She studied the girl across from her for a very long time before she plunged on with the questioning session. Whatever had happened had made Atlanta open up to her, made her spill things Lily was sure she wasn’t supposed to spill. 

She was going to get answers. 

“Are you from the future?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t know me in the future, though.”

“No.”

“Do you know any of us?”

“Remus and Sirius. Remus more so than Sirius,” Atlanta offered. “I know of Snape.”

“But not James, myself or Peter,” Lily stated.

“No.”

“Or Regulus.”

“I never met him till I sat down next to him last year,” Atlanta stated. 

“Do you know how all of us die?”

“No. Not all of you.”

“Bad things happen to wizards or witches who mess with time,” Lily reminded the dark haired witch across from her.

“Yeah, but I’m not one of those crazy witches who traveled through time. I don’t think,” Atlanta admitted. “I’m not sure any longer. I’m kind of confused. Tom and I need to do some research. And Sherlock…”

She trailed off, falling silent. 

Lily Evans demanded to know all there was to know about something before making assumptions. She had never felt that way about Atlanta Black, though. There was something slightly mystical about the girl, from her appearance to how she simply _knew_ things. Her being from the future allowed for this knowledge, but the mystical appearance was something Lily still felt as she gazed at the girl. It wasn’t that Atlanta was other worldly, it was something Lily could not place her finger upon. 

There was something about the girl that made you want to listen to her insane stories, insane advice and ever crazier suggestions at times. Lily had first felt this when she had watched Snape and Atlanta work together on the first day of classes in Potions last year. Snape never listened to Lily without Lily making a lot of arguments, but Snape had taken Atlanta’s suggestions over and over— even after the girl proved to be a disaster at Potions. Honestly, she was worst than Remus. 

“Atlanta?”

Atlanta startled, blinking owlishly at Lily. 

“Why are you and Tom working so hard to get your mastery?”

“I’m not sure. Tom suggested I apply for the apprenticeship. Tom is a genius and it comes easily to him. He fails to be creative, though. He thinks…logically, clinically. I don’t think that way. I think outside the box and then some. So, we’re a great partnership. I don’t take him to class with me, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Lily in fact was not worried about that. Atlanta had a natural knack for Charms and had since the day she arrived. If her story about Tom was correct, Tom did not show up till December. There had been no change in her classroom work since that point in time. It had been somewhat shocking she managed to land a summer apprenticeship, but now knowing she had a genius behind her, it made more sense.

“Actually, Snape and I used to create spells when we were friends.”

Atlanta blinked at her. “Friends?”

Lily nodded. “We’ve parted ways due to his current…company.”

Atlanta nodded. 

“I loved creating spells, but it was something Sev— Snape and I did together,” Lily offered. “I think spell creation works better with two.”

Atlanta cocked her head to the side.

“What are you suggesting?”

“I want to meet Tom.”


End file.
